while fully automated luxury communism was a pretty cool ~wave~ for a while it’s pretty much run it’s course at this point, and the problems inherent in the concept have come to the fore under scrutiny, BUT butbutbut that doesn’t mean we should just give up and let the primmies run the show, i say it’s time for a new techno-utopian wave of communist thought, which improves on FALC by being more plausible, and by addressing/prioritizing the struggle of the third world against the first, which FALC ideology is sometimes kinda oblivious toward

Nearly 4 million copies sold in 84 countries, Daft Punk and their helmets became cult. Even at the other end of the world, as here in Australia. A consecration for two small Parisian gone from nothing.

This is where all started. Daft Punk; Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel De Hommem-Christo met in this school in a wealthy neighborhood of Paris. Their former professor has conserved the class photos.

Pierre Chavatte (former drawing professor): This is the photo of “4th 6” of 87-88 years where the two boys met.

Thomas Bangalter, red sweater, thirteen years old. This is an applied and wise student.

“Good quarter,” “Good job” … I have a memory because they were often together so … Besides, it’s in the end of the year 91-92 that, according to comments, they created their band.

The band is named “Darlin”. At this time they are three, Thomas and Guy-Manuel have seventeen. Serge Nicolas, their friend, kept their first track pressed thousand copies and recorded with the means at hand.

They wanted to be successful. Dice the outset, dice “Darlin ’, they said it, they aimed the bands they lionized, they wanted being the” Beach Boys “, you see, It was of this nature there.

But "Darlin” goes unnoticed except in England where a newspaper wrote an article about their music.

Philippe Manoeuvre (critic, journalist, editor): The “New Musical Express” in England, said “This is some kind of daft punk music”; the shy punks. And them, both of them, they decided to take the name of “Daft Punk”.

“Darlin” becomes “Daft Punk” and by changing their name, they also changed their style. The band surfs a new wave: techno. When it reach France, Thomas and Guy-Manuel had already started their first track for a British label.

Interview from 95: “Daft Punk - “Les punks timbrés”. The new techno darlings of england come from France and bring the house down.”

This is one of the rare document in which Daft Punk appear with uncovered faces. They are young, rebels almost insolents and especially concerned of their independence.

“Guy-Man: Now, we arrive to a time where the musical industry is open to all and everybody is launching in it cause we too much had the habit to have…

Thomas: Dams

Guy-Man: …finished products of shit who break our balls but not for long!”

Daft Punk are wary of labels, they even organize their own distribution networks.

“I recorded the tracks in my studio, in our studio, I engraved them in London in good mastering studios, I pressed them in France, I printed album art and I sell them to distributors in France who dispatch them to distributors abroad”

Insurance, pellet, Thomas and Guy-Manuel lead their boat out of traditional circuits. No label, no studio, their first album is made at home.

Serge Nicolas: Almost the entire album “Homework” was created in the Thomas’s room. After, they re-worked it with mastering but all compositions and songs were developed, because he had all the equipment and all machines, in his room.

Rico The Wizard ( artist and Daft Punk’s friend): Compared to the time, when it was the time of huge studios where there were mixers of three meters long, some things incredible, I mean, their entire studio was less expensive that a pair of cables that could be found on a mixer from a modern studio at the time.

This is a big success in the world, but Daft Punk want the fame without the ransom. The success becomes invasive, to preserve their private lives, they begin to hide their faces.

Serge Nicolas: It was in January 97, so they was on the cover at the occasion of the release of the album, so, they began to blur faces and inside during the interview, they put cellophane on their heads. There are currently no helmets, there is only the intention to not appear in a “normal" way on pictures in the media.

Daft Punk wear carnival masks, they hide in their own way, and when they give rare interviews on American television, they turn their backs to the camera.

"We tried and we managed to keep our anonymity. This is something we want as a personal point of vue and an artistic point of vue”

And it really allows them to live quiet today?

Ricco the Wizard: Oh yeah, totally. Guy-Man takes the subway every day to come here, same for Thomas, he lives in Paris, he brings his children to school… There is no problem so far, it’s great. * laugh *

But this personal choice will become a marketing trick. Daft Punk’s helmets are tailor-made. They define a new identity, build a universe, two robots. Merchandising, launch records, rare interviews, everything is managed with master’s hand. Daft Punk have become icons.

Philip Manoeuvre: Their robot characters invade everything! We saw them in an advert with the “Star Wars" robots, we saw them in "the Simpsons”, they have become prominent figures in pop culture exactly as were the Beatles.

The band can now book the luxury of refusing to compete for “ Les Victoires De La Musique”. They built themselves alone, abroad, and no longer up in their teen room but in the largest studios in the world.